Coffee with God

Jesus got up early to spend time with His Dad. Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Mark 1:35

I challenge each of you to rise up early, a great while before the day, to spend time with God. Enjoy your coffee with prayer and Bible study.

You don’t want to venture out into a temptation-filled world, a busy day with children, or a sin-filled heart without first asking God for strength.

Time with God is nourishment for our soul. Satan will fight you from getting this important nourishment. He wants this quiet time to be demanding and legalistic, frustrating, and boring. He wants us to dread it like we were made being forced to eat or drink something we could not stand. But this daily bread should be something we crave (as much as chocolate during PMS).

It doesn’t take long for the things of this world to overwhelm us— appointments and schedules, people clamoring for our time and energy. Jesus knew what it was like to feel this. He got up before dark to spend time in prayer.

Learn to Love the Morning

David wrote: You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up.

David made it a point to pray in the morning. He did this because he wanted to honor God at the beginning of his day, and set the tone for an entire day dedicated unto God.

I am an early riser (not as early as my hubby who is always up before 4:00 am) but I am awake before daybreak. I love the early morning. I thoroughly enjoy going outside to let the dogs out. God makes a masterpiece in the sky every morning!

Every day I am thrilled by the sight of the early morning hazy sky. I love the sounds that greet me—several birds, cats, and sometimes dogs. These sights and sounds lead me into a time of praising God. By the time I’m back in the house I have spent time with my Father and I am ready for time in His Word.

Hudson Taylor, the famous missionary to China, had trouble finding time alone with God. He began to wake himself up at 2:00 in the morning and using those quiet hours when everyone else slept to commune with God.

George Muller gives an encouraging urging (written in 1839) for us to all rise early:

I want to encourage all believers to get into the habit of rising early to meet with God. How much time should be allowed for rest? No rule of universal application can be given because all persons do not require the same amount of sleep. Also the same persons, at different times, according to the strength or weakness of their body, may require more or less. Most doctors agree that healthy men do not require more than between six or seven hours of sleep, and females need no more than seven or eight hours.

Children of God should be careful not to allow themselves too little sleep since few men can do with less than six hours of sleep and still be well in body and mind. As a young man, before I went to the university, I went to bed regularly at ten and rose at four, studied hard, and was in good health. Since I have allowed myself only about seven hours, I have been much better in body and in nerves than when I spent eight or eight and a half hours in bed.

Someone may ask, “But why should I rise early?” To remain too long in bed is a waste of time. Wasting time is unbecoming a saint who is bought by the precious blood of Jesus. His time and all he has is to be used for the Lord. If we sleep more than is necessary for the refreshment of the body, it is wasting the time the Lord has entrusted us to be used for His glory, for our own benefit, and for the benefit of the saints and unbe­lievers around us.

Just as too much food injures the body, the same is true regarding sleep. Medical persons would readily agree that lying longer in bed than is nec­essary to strengthen the body actually weakens it.

It also injures the soul. Lying too long in bed not merely keeps us from giving the most precious part of the day to prayer and meditation, but this sloth leads also to many other evils. Anyone who spends one, two, or three hours in prayer and meditation before breakfast will soon discover the beneficial effect early rising has on the outward and inward man.

It may be said, “But how shall I set about rising early?”

My advice is: Do not delay. Begin tomorrow. But do not depend on your own strength. You may have begun to rise early in the past but have given it up. If you depend on your own strength in this matter, it will come to nothing. In every good work, we must depend on the Lord. If anyone rises so that he may give the time which he takes from sleep to prayer and meditation, let him be sure that Satan will try to put obstacles in the way.

Trust in the Lord for help. You will honor Him if you expect help from Him in this matter. Pray for help, expect help, and you will have it. In addition to this, go to bed early. If you stay up late, you cannot rise early. Let no pressure of engagements keep you from going habitually early to bed. If you fail in this, you neither can nor should get up early because your body requires rest.

Rise at once when you are awake. Remain not a minute longer in bed or else you are likely to fall asleep again. Do not be discouraged by feeling drowsy and tired from rising early. This will soon wear off. After a few days you will feel stronger and fresher than when you used to lie an hour or two longer than you needed. Always allow yourself the same hours for sleep. Make no change except on account of sickness. (Autobiography, 117-119. Emphasis mine.)

Purpose to begin each day with God. Remember, every morning as you wake, He is waiting to spend time with you.

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35 comments

What a great post. I am by nature an early riser, but the birth of a new baby has kept me sleeping later. Now that the baby is a little older I hope to get back to a few quiet moments before I hear the sound of little footsteps descending the stairs. I have missed my early moments.

I have been doing this as my resolution too. It has been nice to be up early. My only allowance to myself to sleep in is if I’ve been up 3 or more times with any or all of the kiddos! Then I’m rolling over and elbowing my hubby to get up instead!

Great post for a brand spanking new year! Last week you mentioned talked about organization. We use the MOTH system (the Maxwells) and have written inot our family schedules “quiet times”. It helps me to continue to rise early for time with the Lord and hopefully it is teaching our children (15 blessings still at home)to make thier quiet time with the Lord a priorty. I know the kids, especialy the teens may not always apreciate it, but they are building good habits and getting thick prayer journals, P.S. I do believe what George M. has to say about sleep too! it is not a very popular concept though

**Okay** are all of us Homeschool Mom’s on the same wave length of what? I have been reading a lott of mom blog’s and everyone is having the same convictions from the Lord about devotions, structure, and spending more time with Him, children and husband.
I have felt the same wooing’s from the Holy Spirit, almost an urgency…any thoughts?

Wonderful post, Robin! So convicting! I have been burning the candle at both ends, so to speak. My youngest(2) gets up at 7, but my oldest at home does not get home from college night classes until 10 or 11 pm. I wait up to fix him dinner, then he wants to talk. My hubby is not here to help me take turns with staying up as he works nights, 6am – 6pm. So I drop in bed at 12 or 1am, then up by 7. I have been exhausted! I have been praying for a way to spend more time in the Word, more time with kids, and more sleep. Hoping for a workable solution soon. Thanks for the encouragement to keep seeking.

This is something I really need to work. I really hate getting up in the morning especially since its so cold, but I know I really should do it.
Thank you for this post. I will try very hard in the next week to get up early and spend time in the Word and hopefully my days will go smoother and will last longer.
Have a great day in the LORD!!
Love, Prayers and Blessings,
Amandahttp://superangelsblog.com

Thank you for this post. I do get up early in the morning to read the Word, but I’ve been struggling a bit with my prayer time. Reading your post gave me the idea to just say a few words to God, ask Him for wisdom and guidance, and not worry about the length or “christianese” of the prayer. God will know my heart. Have a great day.

First, thank you for visiting my blog the other day. I so agree with your post here – and finding that time alone with God can be a challenge, for sure. I know for me a lot of my time with Him has been in the car lately – listening to teachings during my commute, or in prayer in my thoughts as I’m driving. I have been trying, on the suggestion of a friend to spend a little of my lunch time with God, since I have to be to work so early in the morning and don’t get home till late in the evening.

Anyway, thanks again for this entry. It’s a wonderful reminder of how much our Father just wants us to spend time with Him.

Very timely for me! I’ve been trying–beginning this week–to start getting up earlier to spend some time with God. Though I haven’t gotten up as early as I’d like, I have managed to still have that quiet time & it is wonderful. Now I just need to get up earlier! Thanks for posting this! ♥

Hello! Thank you so much for this post. I’m struggling even this very moment with having VERY little sleep last night and knowing that I have not been disciplined at all in making it a habit to get up and have my “coffee with God!” I needed to read this today. I need this time, desperately. I’ve been a blog reader (through Google Reader) for some time. Thanks for sharing your heart and wisdom!

What a timely post! I was thinking about starting a morning devotional again. But obstacles happen, thank you for reminding me it’s just the enemy trying to steal my strength. Love your websites and tweets.

Thank you for your encouragement. I have always strugged to rise early even though I know I feel better when I do. I also know my devotional time suffers when I sleep in. I am going to strive for better discipline.

Great post. I have written a book on prayer, and talk about having coffee with God first thing. Nothing beats it. 🙂 I’m in the process of editing my book right now, to put it into an ebook on my website. I LOVED how you described getting up in the mornings to have coffee with God, and talking about your horses-wah, I’m envious of the horses, lol! The pic is so pretty. Thanks for sharing this. I loved the quote you used by Georgia Mueller, it was very good.

This is a great encouragement, Robin. Your blog is so nice as well. I found you through twitter. If anyone would like a daily assignment and a group to be accountable with, you are all welcome to click the link to my website and join our group. I would love to add to the 300 member base. When we were in msn before they shut down groups, we had excited for seven years and had over 6000 members. God bless you all and enjoy God’s Word daily. Love, Brenda

What a great post! I am usually a night hawk, and therefore don’t rise early, but your encouragement has given me hope that this habit can be changed…. there are so many benefits of being with the Lord in the quiet of the morning!

I love my time with God in the mornings! 😀 I used to hate getting up as I”m NOT a morning person, but I made it a habit a few years ago and now LOVE my time with God. 😀
.-= Sherry´s last blog ..Cookies and Cream Fudge =-.

Great post. 🙂 I used to be an early riser and always had quiet time reading an praying before beginning the day. I was peaceful and ready for the day… I loved seeing the sunrise and hearing the birds. Yep, everyone needs a little motivation to get going. 🙂 I’ve got mine.

thanks for the post! I love the title… now, if we had a little milk, I could have some with Him too. I guess I could settle with tea for now. 🙂

I found you this morning via Penny. I was so convicted by it. I was not resting in the Lord as I should be. I read the bible but was all too often distracted by the kids and tv and activites. Well no longer will that happen. I will start getting up when all is quiet and really rest in the Lord. Thank you for this post today I really needed it.

WOW. I am amaed to find your website. It is exactly what is on my mind today,,, drinking my coffee and all. I wanted to show you my “coffee with God” mug. Amaing that someone has a blog about this too. Thanks so much. Your blog is beautiful!!

I have been surfing online more than 3 hours lately, but I by no means discovered any fascinating article like yours. It is pretty price enough for me. In my opinion, if all website owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the web can be a lot more useful than ever before.

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